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Johannesburg - The rand weakened against the dollar in early trade on Friday, undermined by negative sentiment from persistent labour unrest.

Thousands of farm workers in the country's fruit growing belt took to the street on Thursday despite calls by unions to freeze the labour action for a week.

The rand was down 0.85% at 09:05 to R8.8650 and is expected to have some support at the R8.87 level.

The currency was weaker despite the strengthening euro - the rand often moves in tandem with the euro. The euro was 0.04% stronger than the dollar at 09:04.

"That gives an indication that the underlying sentiment towards the currency is quite negative as the fundamentals pose risk to further upside weakness on the rand," said Brigid Taylor, Nedbank's Head of Institutional sales.

Investors sold bonds on the rand's depreciation, causing the curve to steepen.

The yield on the 13-year bond rose 4.5 basis points to 7.23% and the shorter-dated increased by 3.5 basis points to 5.365%.

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